Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens Review
The Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens is both light on weight and light on your wallet.
Measuring 1.7" long and weighing .41 lbs qualifies this less for the tiny lens classification.
I found the Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens to be similar to the
Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 Lens and the
Canon EF 35mm f/2 Lens
in build quality and size.
The small size is great, the build quality is not great but acceptable to me for a lens of this size.
Lacking USM (Ultrasonic Motor), the Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens is mediocre in focusing speed and very high in the noise category.
Focusing is definitely audible but the speed is adequate for many applications.
FTM (Full Time Manual) focusing is not a feature in this 28.
The Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens does focus very closely - this is nice.
Like the Canon EF 35mm f/2 Lens,
the Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens has a 5-blade aperture that yields pentagram-shaped
out-of-focus highlights when the lens is stopped down.
The result is not terrible - but is not great either.
CA (Chromatic Aberration) is noticeably present in Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens images.
Light fall-off is also noticeable on the corners when shot wise open
even on a FOVCF body.
Distortion is low.
Color and saturation are good.
In the sharpness category, the Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens was soft wide open with noticeable improvements at f/4 and f/5.6.
Corners, even on a 1.6 FOVCF body, are bad.
Even stopped down significantly, the corners are very soft.
The Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens was consistently not as sharp as the
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens
or the
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM Lens
(both zooms set to 28mm and identical apertures).
I preferred the L lens image color over the 28 f/2.8's.
Of course, the L lenses are larger and far more expensive.
Canon's other current 28mm prime, the
Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM Lens,
also proved noticeably sharper than the Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens -
even with both lenses wide open.
I regard the
Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM Lens
as a better lens in most categories - but the better performance is not lost on the price.
Pictured above from left to right are the
Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 Lens,
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens,
Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM Lens and the
Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens.
The small size of the Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens makes it a good travel lens.
It certainly does not take up much room in the luggage - and does not cause a catastrophe if lost or damaged.
The Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens also makes a good second lens to carry around when using
one of the Canon 70-200 L Lenses
as a primary lens or as a backup to any normal zoom.
Recommended Shopping Resources
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Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens at B&H Photo
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens at Amazon.com
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens at Adorama (Imported)
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens at Adorama
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens at 17th Street Photo
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 Lens at J&R
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Peter Kun Frary
